Anderson Family Found Wright Guy At The Right Time

ALEX MARVEZ INSIDE THE RING

September 19, 2003|ALEX MARVEZ INSIDE THE RING

Chris "CW Anderson" Wright is a worthy choice to continue the Anderson family legacy.

While Anderson isn't Wright's real last name, the same can be said of three of the other four members who have comprised one of wrestling's most famous clans. That includes Marty "Arn Anderson" Lunde, who is the inspiration for Wright's in-ring character.

Like Lunde during his stellar 16-year career, Wright has found a niche as a tag-team wrestler and holds the titles with Simon Diamond for one of the nation's top independent promotions (New York-based Major League Wrestling).

Wright, Diamond and Steve Corino also comprise The Extreme Horsemen, which is a knockoff of the legendary Four Horsemen that had Arn and Ole Anderson as original members.

"Right now, I'm ecstatic with my career," said Wright, whose big break came with the now-defunct Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1999. "I thought once ECW went down that I was pretty much over and done with. I was devastated. But now that I'm working in Japan [for Zero-One] and MLW, things are going great."

Long before The Dudleys came to prominence, promoters had created "families" like the Valiants (Jerry, Jimmy and Johnny) and Grahams (Eddie, Jerry, Billy and Luke) whose members weren't related but usually shared physical similarities.

Gene Anderson and his two "brothers" -- Ole (real name Al Rogowski) and Lars (Lawrence Heinemi) -- began making their mark during the 1960s and later became known as the Minnesota Wrecking Crew. Lunde was adopted in 1983 because of his resemblance to Rogowski and excellent technical skills.

Wright had no intention of becoming an Anderson after debuting on the North Carolina independent circuit in 1993. But Wright made the switch after being approached by two other low-level wrestlers who were allowed by the late Gene Anderson to use the moniker.

"These guys got permission from Gene and his wife to use the name as they see fit if they wanted to pass it along," Wright said. "They were told you couldn't disgrace the name and just give it anybody. It's got to be somebody special."

When signing with World Championship Wrestling's training school in February 1998, Wright dropped the Anderson gimmick amid concerns of how he would be treated with Lunde still in the promotion. But after debuting with ECW 18 months later, Wright took advantage of his striking facial likeness to Lunde by adopting the same nickname (The Enforcer) and trademark maneuvers.

While establishing himself as a quality performer in ECW until that promotion's demise in early 2001, Wright admittedly still endures grief from those who believe he is wrong by borrowing so much from Lunde's character.

"To this day, some people put me down since I've started using the Anderson name," said Wright, who hasn't spoken with Lunde since adopting the CW Anderson persona. "They think I'm a disgrace to Arn, Ole and Gene. But there are always people who are not going to like the stuff you do."

The Extreme Horsemen and a mystery partner will face Terry Funk, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, The Sandman and a mystery partner in a War Games match on the main event of an MLW show at 7:30 tonight at the Fort Lauderdale War Memorial Auditorium, 800 NE Eighth St.

Other matches on what should be a great show include a loaded eight-man J-Cup tournament featuring such talent as Juventud Guerrera, Christopher Daniels, Jerry Lynn and Jimmy Yang.

Tickets are on sale at Ticketmaster outlets and the War Memorial. Call the arena box office at 954-828-5380 or visit www.mlw.com.

A. Michinoku, who comprised the Kaientai tag team with Sho Funaki, was released from his WWE contract in 2002 following shoulder surgery and now works in Japan.

More of the Chris "CW Anderson" Wright interview can be found at www.wrestlingobserver.com. Questions can be sent to Alex Marvez c/o the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301, or e-mailed to amarvez@sun-sentinel.com. Please include your full name and city of residence. Because of volume, no phone calls will be accepted and letters will not receive a written reply.